Kahlenberg is a wooded height of 484 metres at the northern end of the Vienna Woods, where the hills stop and the Danube plain begins. From the terrace by the little church of St Joseph the whole city lies below: the spire of the Stephansdom rising out of the roofs, the river curving past the towers on its far bank, and beyond that flat country running to the horizon. In September 1683 a relief force crossed these hills at the end of the second Ottoman siege of the city, and the church here carries plaques recording it.
The getting there is most of the point. Buses run up, but the walk is the reason people come: marked trails climb from Nussdorf and Heiligenstadt through beech woods and terraced vines, and a ridge path links Kahlenberg to its neighbour Leopoldsberg. The best version is late afternoon up and down through the vineyards into Grinzing or Nussdorf, where a bundle of pine over a doorway means the grower is pouring this year's wine — a jug of young Grüner Veltliner, a plate of cold pork, and a long bench.